Inspired by JJWeatherman’s new (hopefully) weekly blog I decided I would give it a shot. What’s great about this is that is win-win for me, if this blog completely fails then no one will notice but if it’s a success then…well…it’s a success.

 
Creepy Nursery Rhymes

 
The original Dead Space didn’t make into my hands until late last year when I picked it up for almost nothing. I had been reluctant to buy it simply due to the   fact that I’m not a big survival horror fan the fact my friend had been so cold on it. I now realise my friend is an idiot (mostly) and that this game is for me and that everyone who likes good games should at least play through it. My main problem with Dead Space though was that it was too long. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for 12 hour campaigns but only if they’re warranted. In the later sections of the game I felt like I was seeing the same places again and again, I was getting sick of fighting the same enemies and by the time I reached the end I was actually happy to see the credits roll. So it was with some trepidation that I bought Dead Space 2 fearing that I had had enough of Isaac and his necromorph pals. Luckily for me I realised my fears were unfounded a few hours in. The setting of Dead Space 2 really helps to make the campaign much more enjoyable and varied. No longer do all the corridors look the same and the pointless late game fetch quests have been sent through the air lock into the abyss of space. DS 2 is also intelligent, one section later on in the game plays on your fears from the original exceptionally well and it also serves as a great call back to the first game. Dead Space 2 is the definitive Dead Space experience, taking pretty much every annoying aspect of the first one and trashing and improving on others.

 
Press X to smoke

 
Vanquish is a silly game, in fact it’s a very silly game. Simultaneously harking back to both the ridiculous action movies of the 80’s and the crazy ass Japanese games of the 90’s, Vanquish takes the elements which made these things great and blends them into an almost perfect mixture. You take the role of Sam Gideon, a wise-cracking, cigarette-smoking DARPA agent who is also testing out a prototype suit which basically grants him the power of ROCKET KNEES and other less awesome things and you’re on a mission to crush those commie bastards and their stinkin’ robots. Vanquish takes a lot of inspiration from the original 3 person cover-based shooter (someone needs to come up with an acronym for that), Gears of War, you take cover, you pop out, you shoot, you go back into cover but somehow makes it feel fresh and exciting. You’re nearly always in the centre of some giant battle with bullets and explosions and robots filling the screen and this helps to lessen the monotony of the basic gameplay. In terms of the story there isn’t much here to look at but, and this is coming from a big fan of narrative in my vidja games, it really doesn’t matter. There’s no half-baked romance or dumb ‘I’ve got to find my wife’ sub plot there’s just robots and guns and ROCKET KNEES. If you watched Commando and thought ‘This is boring, where’s all the robots?’ then buy this game, NOW!

 
R.I.P Gary Moore

 
The great Gary Moore died 6 days ago. For those of you who do not know of him he recorded with my favourite band Thin Lizzy and other legends such as B.B King and Albert King he also had a great solo career. He was a phenomenal guitarist and it’s a sad loss to music so here he is at his peak playing with half of Thin Lizzy in 1979: